Noting that the struggling U.S. Postal Service has been undercut by, among other things, the prevalence of e-mail, Wozniak suggested to the city council that "a very tiny tax on e-mail" might be a way to shore up the service's vital functions.

He suggested that a tiny amount, like a cent per gigabyte, might be enough to earn the postal service "billions" of dollars a year. It sounds like an only-in-Berkeley idea, but in fact Wozniak is not the first person to suggest such a thing.

More than a decade ago, the United Nations looked at a tax, thinking it could help fund a "global communications revolution." It seems the revolution proceeded without the tax, thank you very much.

The problem with the idea of an "e-mail tax" stems from the wrong-headed belief that there's a simple fix to the challenges that e-mail has brought us - whether the challenge is the U.S. Postal Service's distress or universal access to global communications.

In the case of the U.S. Postal Service, it's true that the rise of e-mail has led to a decline in first-class mail, which was the backbone of the service's cash flow. But the postal service is well-run and has actually seen a rise in package delivery.

There are a wide variety of ways it could potentially maximize revenue - if only Congress, which controls the service, would let it do so. Unfortunately, members of Congress would rather micromanage the agency, forcing it to do things that are politically expedient for them but incompatible with the management of a successful business.

Far better for the service than an e-mail tax would be the opportunity to run its own affairs.